The na of Nagano in the shape of a bird inside a white disc on an orange field: from this flag came the colour of the 1998 Games.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field with a 2:3 ratio, orange and plain, with a white disc in the centre. Inside the disc goes a single figure, the emblem of the prefecture, in the same orange as the ground.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
The emblem was chosen through a public competition opened by the prefecture and approved…
The flag came three months later, on 20 March 1967: it was the symbol of a land of mountains…
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Nagano is orange with a white disc in the centre. Inside, the ナ (na), the katakana with which its name begins, stretches out like a bird about to fly.
The emblem was chosen through a public competition opened by the prefecture and approved by announcement on 26 December 1966, in use from 1 January 1967. The flag came three months later, on 20 March 1967: it was the symbol of a land of mountains so high that they call it “the roof of Japan”.
It has not changed since 1967.
The explanation is the prefecture’s official interpretation:
White ナ
the katakana of Nagano turned into a bird taking flight; in its horizontal stroke you can also see a reflection of mountains in a lake: nature, the friendship and union of the people, and progress towards the future.
Orange
the sunlight falling on the soil of the prefecture through the four seasons.
White
the snow of “the roof of Japan” and the clean and cheerful character of its people.
The orange of the emblem of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics comes from this flag.
The design was not invented by a committee: the prefecture selected it in a public competition called in 1966.
Test what you have read about the flag of Nagano.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
Other flag
Europa
Other flag
Other flag
Asia
Other flag
Europa
Africa
Eastern Africa
Other flag
América del Sur
